Thread: TX Lawmaker Puts Illegal Alien Housekeeper On County Payroll

The article doesn't tell you Sylvia Handy's a Democrat

Lawmaker Puts Illegal Alien Housekeeper On County Payroll

A Texas county commissioner charged with paying her illegal immigrant domestic workers with public funds is closer to being convicted after two women admitted in federal court this week that they helped the lawmaker fleece taxpayers.

Hidalgo County Commissioner Sylvia Handy was indicted last month for orchestrating the fraudulent employment by the county of Mexican illegal aliens who cleaned her house and took care of her children. For at least five years the veteran commissioner paid the illegal immigrants with county funds even though they never did any public work, according to a 70-page indictment made public in early April.

Handy, who along with her husband was arrested at her home last month, put the workers on her precinct payroll under assumed names and assigned them bogus maintenance jobs. Prosecutors estimate that tens of thousands of dollars were illegally charged to the county throughout the years.

The commissioner has vehemently maintained her innocence since being charged, but this week a pair of suspects in the case threw a wrench into her story. Two women admitted to a federal judge that they collected more than $111,000 by participating in Handy’s corrupt scheme.

One pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting that she got county paychecks while working as Handy’s personal housekeeper and babysitter for more than five years. Another woman, who is a McAllen school employee, said she let the illegal alien housekeeper use her Social Security number to avoid drawing attention to the fraud. The commissioner’s trial is scheduled for next month.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/ ... ty-payroll

Wonder if she will run for re-election?
She should be deported along with her employees.

Another article with a little more detail and including names:

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/h ... ndedOnly=0

Commissioner Sylvia Handy's co-defendants plead guilty
Comments 2 | Recommend 0
May 13, 2009 - 8:44 PM
By Jeremy Roebuck, The Monitor
McALLEN - Two women told a federal judge Wednesday that they helped Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner Sylvia Handy fleece taxpayers out of more than $111,000.

Maria de los Angeles Landa de Hernandez, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and conceded she collected a county paycheck while working as Handy's personal housekeeper and babysitter over a period of five years. During that time, Hernandez did no actual government work and did not have legal status to work in the country.

Eloisa Andrade Uriegas, a 58-year-old McAllen school employee, said she loaned Hernandez her Social Security number so as not to draw attention on personnel records.

Their court hearing Wednesday marks the first admissions of guilt in an investigation that has hounded Hidalgo County's first elected female commissioner for more than two years.

But Handy continued to assert her innocence, and her attorney questioned the motives of her co-defendants.

Under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, both Hernandez and Uriegas have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing case. The government will likely recommend a reduced sentence for both women should their assistance prove useful.

"People who are guilty plead guilty," said Al Alvarez, Handy's lawyer. "We haven't because we're not guilty. I really think you have to look at what these women are getting in exchange for their guilty pleas."

FBI agents arrested Handy, 52, and her 35-year-old husband, Juan Gabriel Espronceda, at their Weslaco home April 2. Both stand accused of multiple counts of conspiracy and harboring illegal immigrants.

According to a 76-page indictment, Handy put Hernandez and another undocumented immigrant who remains unindicted in the case on her Precinct 1 payroll under assumed names. Although both were granted jobs as maintenance workers, prosecutors allege neither did any work in the office for the thousands of dollars in pay and benefits they received.

Hernandez, who received a government paycheck up until January 2006, even received several sham promotions and used part of her salary to make regular $600 loan payments to the bank that held Handy's mortgage on a plot of land the commissioner had purchased in Mercedes, the indictment states.

Hernandez finally gave up her position more than a year before a county audit raised questions about payroll practices in Handy's office.

Handy's former attorney - Ralph Martinez - has previously said Hernandez worked in the commissioner's home but that Handy had no knowledge of the woman's immigration status. He said his client later helped the woman find a legitimate county job after she left the commissioner's household.

Alvarez, Handy's current attorney, said Wednesday evening that he was not yet familiar enough with the case to back Martinez's statements.

"The truth always comes out in court," he said. "We look forward to the chance to tell our side of the story."

Hernandez and Uriegas each face up to 10 years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for later this year.

Handy and Espronceda are set to face a jury next month.

"People who are guilty plead guilty," said Al Alvarez, Handy's lawyer. "We haven't because we're not guilty.

People who are guilty, don't plea guilty and they hire an attorney to hopefully get out of their punishment for the crime the committed.

Dixie

Greedy ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS, most especially Elitist Politicians, always profess to follow Immigration Laws but constantly become baffled about the interpretation of the law; certainly when it is only United States Taxpayer money involved and not their own money.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4218--0-0.html

Looks like she is facing charges with her husband, 35-year old, Juan Espronceda. Go figure........hope both of the spend some time in prison.

http://www.kveo.com/news/hidalgo-county ... y-indicted

Texas and Rhode Island NEED OUR HELP!!! Please join in!


http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-898358.html#898358
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Eloisa Andrade Uriegas, a 58-year-old McAllen school employee, said she loaned Hernandez her Social Security number so as not to draw attention on personnel records.

The woman is either a moron or just plain stupid. Social Security numbers cant be "LOANED" out for people to use. Maybe Mexican Metricular cards can be "loaned" out, but NOT Social Security cards.

I hope Handy and her little man get lots of prison time.

Originally Posted by butterbean

Eloisa Andrade Uriegas, a 58-year-old McAllen school employee, said she loaned Hernandez her Social Security number so as not to draw attention on personnel records.

The woman is either a moron or just plain stupid. Social Security numbers cant be "LOANED" out for people to use. Maybe Mexican Metricular cards can be "loaned" out, but NOT Social Security cards.

I hope Handy and her little man get lots of prison time.

HEAVY FINES and FELONY JAIL time for the ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS! Remember Robert Camp another ILLEGAL EMPLOYER from Houston, "his" ILLEGAL EMPLOYEE murdered a Houston Police Officer by empting a loaded handgun into the Police Officer's back because he was afraid to be DEPORTED AGAIN!